eThekwini Municipality teams working to restore services impacted by Samwu strike
eThekwini Municipality teams are working to restore crucial services impacted by the protracted strike by South African Municipal Workers Union-affiliated staff that was suspended last week.
City spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, said the electricity department was addressing the backlog of electricity outages across the City.
“Residents are also urged to work with the City as violent protests, including the blockading of roads, delays the response time of teams getting to affected areas,” she said.
Sisilana added that teams were working tirelessly to address the situation electrical outages which was exacerbated by the illegal strike action and vandalism of critical infrastructure.
"Their current focus is on restoring power to customers who have been without electricity for an extended number of days. However, recently logged electricity faults will also be attended to,“ she said.
On Monday, the City said massive clean-up operations and the clearing of waste collection backlog had already commenced.
"eThekwini Municipality informs residents and businesses that refuse collection and street sweeping services, which were affected by the recent illegal strike action, have resumed. Residents are requested to take out their refuse bags on the morning of their scheduled collection days," the City said.
eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said the strike, which began on February 27, not only crippled service delivery city-wide but also claimed the life of a supervisor at the Cemetery and Crematoria Department in Umlazi and left some staff injured.
He said 81 employees were placed on precautionary suspension for misconduct while 1,891 employees were given notices of misconduct and 88 employees have been dismissed for their participation in the unlawful industrial action.
IOL